In Your Eyes
by Glum n Dumb Skittery
Summary: You said Eagle and I had sad eyes. Maybe you should look in the mirror, Lantis. You've got sad eyes too. [Death is in the eye of the beholder] (Angsty!Hikaru)


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A/N: Gasp. Angst. Surprise, surprise! **All standard disclaimers apply.**

Your Eyes

When you look out at Cephiro, Lantis, what do you see? Do you see what I see across this blessed land? Do Clef and Presea see it too? How about Umi and Fuu? Ferio? Emeraude? Do they recognize the land for what it is?  
  
Is this land blessed? Or is it cursed?

I want the answers. But there are none yet.  
  
Tell me, Lantis. Tell me the answers. Please?

Just open those eyes and look at me and sigh, like I know you do when you prepare to tell me something I don't want to hear. In this case, I think the answer is "I don't know." 

Maybe, just maybe, that's the right answer, though. Even if i don't want to hear it at all.

So, please. Just open your eyes.

…damn it. Open your _eyes_. 

Please?

+++

"Fuu, we should really take her away now."  
  
Hououji Fuu hesitated, the tears glossy behind her pale eyes. Ferio took a step into the room before her hand shot out. "No," she said softly, firmly. "Not just yet. Give her a little more time. Just a little more."  
  
"It's not healthy, Fuu," Ferio countered gently.  
  
Fuu's voice caught in her throat and she gazed at the floor. "I know." And Gods, did she know. "It's just… give her a little more time." And finally, "I'm worried." _Maybe we shouldn't move her at all._  
  
+++

It's so sad, Lantis. Everything is. People back home have changed and, so many, in to people I no longer can like. Did we ever change like that? So drastically? Did people stop liking us because of that?   
  
Maybe I shouldn't say such things. 

Maybe.

Oh, come on, Lantis. Why won't you talk to me? 

I need the answers. And I think you're the only one who can give them to me.

Is that being too selfish, though?

Am I asking too much for you to just open… to open your eyes?

+++

"Any progress?"  
  
"None. She hasn't moved. She hasn't even spoken a word. She just stares at him. That's about it."  
  
Ryuuzaki Umi sighed, her fists clenching in her helplessness. "Isn't there anything we can…_do_?"  
  
Clef's expression saddened. "I'm afraid not. The grief isn't ours to rid of." He took her hand gently in his, uncurling her fingers, worry entering his eyes at the deep half-moon impressions left by her fingernails. "There isn't anything we can do.."  
  
"Nothing?" Umi asked helplessly, already knowing the answer.  
  
Clef's eyebrows furrowed. "Nothing."  
  
+++

You said Eagle and I had sad eyes. 

Maybe you should look in the mirror, Lantis. You've got sad eyes too.

…that's right. Sad eyes. Big and emotional, except when you've got your guard up. Then they're blank and empty.

What do your eyes look like now, I wonder? 

You could help me answer that, you know? If you just… opened your eyes.

I don't… understand.

+++

"Oh no, Ferio, catch her!"  
  
"Shit!"  
  
+++

_All I wanted…_

+++

"Fuu, what's going on?!"  
  
"It's Hikaru!"  
  
+++

_…was to see…_

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"Clef, help me!"  
  
+++

_…your eyes…_

+++

"HIKARU!"

+++

_…one last time._

Death is in the eye of the beholder. You told me that once, Lantis. We talked about Zagato and Emeraude until I thought I'd cried every last tear left in my body. Were they really gone? I kept asking you. They could never come back?  
  
And then you smiled at me. You smiled and said "I don't know." And you meant it. I knew. But, it was so definite. Those words that were uncertain. It didn't make any sense. But I didn't care.

Because I looked at you. I looked and you smiled at me. Not with your lips or your teeth, your mouth, none of that. You smiled at me. With your eyes.

And I felt complete.

It didn't matter if Cephiro was blessed or cursed, whether or not the land as sad, angry or both. There were no thoughts of how the people's happiness failed to relay everything as peace. It was simple.

All the answers were right there.

Where?  
  
There.

In your eyes.

So, Lantis, please. You know, if I can't see your eyes, then you can't see mines. Maybe that's the way it should be.

But, as always, the answer is definite: I don't know.

+++

"…is she…?" Ferio questioned, holding the limp body of the Pillar within his hands.

"…no," Fuu whispered.

"She can't be," Umi followed up.

Clef sank to his knees. And the corpse of the Guardian of Fire was propped up against another corpse, long since decomposed. 

"Is she…?" The words echoed.

And the silence answered.

+++

_I don't know._

****

-fin-

A/N: ^_^ If you understood all of that, kudos to you! This is one of my most terrible written works. And yet I love it to pieces. Forgive me for the fragmentation and deep Hikaru-angst/insanity. After "Want" it just had to be done. I've got another piece (happiness galore) which will be up soon. Please look for it?


End file.
